


Christmas at The Burrow

by Millohoff



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas, Confusion, F/M, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 05:38:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4734566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millohoff/pseuds/Millohoff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione is quickly regretting her decision to spend Christmas at The Burrow this year, as everyone seems to be hiding something. Will Hermione be able to hide her own secret or will someone find out that she left in the middle of the night after sleeping with one of the Weasley Brothers?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas at The Burrow

Hermione landed hard on the ground in front of the very tall and very crooked house. Standing in the courtyard, she could hear buzzling and the distinct sound of Mrs Weasley’s voice coming from the inside. It seemed she was yelling at some of her children to come help her in the kitchen. Hermione smiled to herself, Mrs Weasley never really needed help in the kitchen as she was one of the most formidable magical cooks Hermione had ever met, but that didn’t stop her from trying to get her children to keep her company while she worked her magic. Hermione took a deep breath and started walking towards The Burrow. The frost beneath her boots crackled as she walked across the courtyard. She was quite sure that the Weasley’s would welcome her but still she couldn’t help feeling nervous. She had hadn’t seen _him_ for a while. Since _it_ had happened actually and she wasn’t really sure how she should act around him after that last time they had seen each other. She walked to the front door and tapped lightly on it hoping that someone else would answer the door. There was a loud bang from the inside and the sound of someone running down the stairs. The door swung open and Hermione was encircled in a big, crimson hug.

‘Blimey Hermione what are you doing here?’

‘Hi George’, Hermione mumbled into his jumper which was most likely a gift from his mother. George Weasley took a step back and looked at her.

‘How do you always tell the difference between us?’ He said with a grin on his face.

‘I have known you for over seven years George, and just because your identical twins it doesn’t meant that you’re you know… identical’, she said suddenly nervous. _Did he know?_

‘Touché’, he said and moved so she could come inside. ‘But you haven’t answered my first question what are you doing here? I thought you were spending Christmas with your mum and dad since you couldn’t last year’.

‘Well that was the plan but suddenly last night my parents remembered that they had made plans to celebrate Christmas with some of their friends from Australia, and seeing as it was already morning down there I told them I would apperate them there and return home to celebrate Christmas with you lot instead. You don’t think your mum will mind do you?’

‘Mum mind? Are you crazy? You are one of her favourite people in the entire world Hermione! You’re like an honorary Weasley! Of course, she won’t mind!’ Hermione blushed at the high praises and removed her coat and scarf.

‘Who’s at the door George? If it those Muggle carollers from last year go get your father. If he finds out that they where here and we didn’t tell him he’ll be put off his Christmas dinner again!’ George and Hermione laughed thinking back on last Christmas where Mr Weasley had missed the chance to talk to the local carollers about how they celebrated their Christmas. Hermione hadn’t actually been at The Burrow last Christmas as her, Harry, and Ron had been out searching for Horcruxes, but she had been told the story so many times that I had begun to fell like she had been there.

‘Maybe I should go say hello so she won’t think it was the carollers’, Hermione said and started walking towards the kitchen.

‘Wait Hermione’, George said and came after her. ‘Do you think you could help me with something later? I’ve been working on this project but it just keeps going wrong and I have an idea that you could help me fix it’.

‘All right’, Hermione said to him before he turned around and started up the stairs. She walked into the kitchen, which was very hot. Mrs Wesley had her back turned as she charmed the potatoes to peel themselves. A magical rotating spoon was stirring the gravy and a delicious smell was floating about the room.

‘Hullo Mrs Weasley’, Hermione said, ‘It smells wonderful in here’.

Mrs Weasley spun around and a big smile spread across her face as she held out her arms. Hermione walked to her and received her second rib squashing Weasley hug of the day. ‘My dear I didn’t think you where coming to The Burrow this Christmas. There is nothing wrong with your parents is there? Arthur has been telling me how the Muggles don’t have a good cure for the common flue and I suspect that it really is the time of year to be getting that’.

‘Nothing is wrong with my parents Mrs Weasley, we’re all quite flue-free. I just apparated them to Australia. Apparently they made plans with some of their friends down under when they were there last year, but I didn’t really feel like spending Christmas down there. It wouldn’t feel right doing so in the summer you know’, she said hearing how vague a reason that was. Mrs Weasley didn’t look very convinced either but decided to let it go.

‘Of course you’re welcome to spend Christmas here my dear. You are always welcome at the Burrow. The Boys are upstairs if you want to go and wake them up’. Mrs Weasley smiled at her and Hermione thought she saw a knowing look in her eyes, but she ignored it. _She couldn’t know what Hermione thought she might know and besides when she said the boys she clearly didn’t mean him. Did she?_

George went up the stairs and entered his and Fred’s old room. Weird bursts of coloured stains and burn marks covered the walls and the floor had seen better days. He had often wondered why his mum and dad hadn’t done anything to fix up the room after he and Fred had moved out to live above their shop in Diagon Alley. Perhaps they were nostalgic for the time when small explosions could be heard from inside their room and when no one knew whether walking past the door would be save or not. Or perhaps they just couldn’t be bothered. Anyhow, it didn’t bother George and he liked staying in his old room when he came to visit. The only downside was having to share it with Fred. Even though they had shared a room for so many years growing up moving out of The Burrow and into separate bedrooms had made him incapable of coping with Fred’s snoring for more than a couple of nights in a row.

‘Oi Fred wake up!’ He said and levitated a pillow onto his head.

‘Bugger off’ said a mumbled voice from beneath the covers.

‘Mum says it’s time to get up and besides we have a guest’, George continued.

‘Neither Percy, Charlie, Bill, or Fleur count as guests George, they’re all family’, he said rolling onto his other side.

‘Does Hermione also fit into your category of family?’ He said with a sly smile, which only grew as he saw his words have the desired effect. Fred sat straight up, his hair pointing in all possible direction.

‘Hermione is here?’

 

Hermione climbed the stairs trying to make the least possible sound. She didn’t want to wake up any of the other Weasley’s who might be sleeping. Who was she kidding, she didn’t want to wake _him_ up. She knew she would have to deal with it at some point in time but right now was not that time. She reached the highest room of The Burrow and knocked on the door. She hoped that the boys wouldn’t question why she had chosen to spend Christmas at The Burrow this year instead of with her parent because she really wasn’t sure anymore. It had seemed like a good idea when she left her parents waving at an Australian Christmas barbeque but now Hermione wasn’t so sure. What if he had told some of the others about what had happened?

‘oo is it?’ a sleepy voice said from within finally said breaking the stream of questions running through her mind as she waited.

‘It’s me Hermione, can I come in?’ There was a groaning sound from within that she took to be an approval. She stepped inside the chocking orange room and nearly tripped over Harry who was sprawled on the floor covered in multiple blankets that looked like they had seen better days. ‘Oh my god, it smells in here’, she said wrinkling her nose. She took out her wand and opened the window with a spell.

‘That’s cold!’ Ron complained while Harry simply grinned at her from his nest of holed blankets.

‘She’s right Ron we do stink’.

‘So what’ve you been doing Hermione? It feels like we haven’t seen you in ages’, Ron said sitting up, his red hair pointing in all directions, his eyes still looking sleepy. Hermione looked from Ron to Harry. He didn’t seem like he was taunting her. Perhaps, he hadn’t told Ron.

‘Yeah I haven’t seen you since before we were supposed to meet at the Leaky Cauldron. Remember that night where we had to cancel on you?’ Oh Hermione remembered that night very well. Harry didn’t seem like he knew anything, and they all knew well that Ron couldn’t keep a secret from Harry. His brother must not have told him then.

‘I’ve just been busy with work and school I guess’, she said. Well that’s not an outright lie, Hermione thought, but I have also been avoiding you both and everyone named Weasley. The boys seemed to accept her vague excuse. Hermione sat down on Ron’s bed and the three of them talked about everything and nothing until Mrs Weasley shouted for everyone to come downstairs and open their presents. At first, Hermione had been paranoid and run every comment through her mind as if trying to decipher how much Ron and Harry knew but as the conversation had wore on she had concluded that they didn’t know and relaxed into the much needed time with her two best friends.

 

As the trio made their way down the winding stairs accompanied by the screaming of the Ghoul that lived somewhere inside the Weasley’s home, they could hear more people arriving. At the bottom of the stairs they were greeted by Percy, Charlie, Bill, and a very uncomfortable looking Fleur. Percy, formal as ever, shook hands with the others before engaging his father in a conversation about important ministry business. The two oldest Weasley brothers however hugged everyone like only the Wesley’s could. Mrs Weasley came from the kitchen and shooed everyone into the living room where a tall Christmas tree that seemed to be just as crooked as The Burrow itself meet their eyes. The tree was so filled with decorations of every kind that it seemed to be only standing upright because of some magic spell. At the top of the tree a Garden Gnome wearing a glittery dress was perched resembling a very angry and extremely ugly angel. It had become a Weasley tradition and even though Hermione had always pitied the petrified little creature she held her tongue. Her talk about the rights of magical creatures usually only earned her pointed glares and disrupted conversations. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Fred and George coming into the living room and she quickly diverted her eyes to the sea of presents was spread beneath the Christmas tree. Hopefully, no one would notice that she had not greeted Fred. As all of the Weasley’s, Harry, and Hermione made their way over to the tree and the presents her hope grew as no one commented on it.

‘Happy Christmas everyone’, said Mr Weasley and began searching for a gift with his name on it.

 

What seemed like hours later only a few presents where left beneath the tree and many of the Weasley’s where slumped in the sofas and arm chairs. Hermione, Harry, and Ron were sitting on the floor and Hermione had successfully avoided any eye contact with _him_. Mrs and Mr Weasley were admiring their new possessions with great enthusiasm. For Mrs Weasley that involved a load of new books on magical cooking and cleaning, while Mr Weasley was mesmerized by the Walkman, which Harry and Hermione had gotten him.

‘It’s just amazing what the Muggles can come up with isn’t’, he said to Percy who was looking at the music machine with a sceptical eye.

‘This one’s for you Hermione’, Harry said and handed her the last present. It was square, heavy, and wrapped in paper that was the same colour as the night sky. When Hermione looked closer she saw that there were small starts on it that constantly changed how much they shone.

‘Wow, Hermione who’s that from?’ asked Ron as he opened his last present and found it to be yet another maroon jumper made by his mother. He had gotten everyone Christmas she had known him and even though he never wore them in public Mrs Weasley kept knitting one for him each year.

‘I don’t know. There’s no card’, she said and looked at the beautiful paper once more. Ron, who was watching it with interest, nudged her with his shoulder.

‘Well come on, open it!’ He said. And Hermione opened it careful not to destroy the paper. As she had expected it was a book to be more precise it was _The Concise History of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures_.

‘I bet that’s from Percy. He’s the only one who would buy you something that sounds so boring’, said Ron just as his mother announced that the food was ready. All the others got to their feet and hurried to the table except for Hermione. She sat on the floor looking at the book as if hypnotized. She knew that the book wasn’t from Percy. He was not the type to forget writing a note, and besides why would Percy go through the trouble of getting her a gift without wanting her to know it was from him? Of course the note could have been lost among all of the other presents but it didn’t seem likely. Who had gotten her the book? And how had they known that she was interested in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures? During the last couple of years she had tried to keep the talk of magical creature’s rights to a minimum around her friends because she knew they would only get annoyed with her. So which one of them had remembered?

 

Fred watched from the other side of the room as Hermione picked up her last present and searched for a card. He had debated whether or not he should write her one but had decided against it in the end. They didn’t usually get each other presents for Christmas and somehow he felt that he was overstepping some sort of hidden boundary. That night didn’t mean anything to her. She left before you even woke up why would you get her a present you idiot, a voice inside his head whispered. He knew it was stupid but when he saw the book in the window of Flourits and Blots he couldn’t help himself. Hermione had always been passionate about helping magical creatures, but she seemed to have forgotten about it as they all fought for their lives against you-know-who, but she deserved to remember how passionate she had been about helping house elves all those years ago when they were still at Hogwarts together. Back then, she had just been his baby brother’s friend, who seemed too smart for her own good, but somehow everything had changed that night. Perhaps it had been the Fire Whiskey. That was obviously what she had told herself as she snuck out of his flat before he even woke the next day, but for him it had been more. It had been much more than that.

‘Oi the food’s ready’, said George making Fred jump in his seat. He had been completely lost in thought as he had looked upon Hermione opening his present.

‘Yeah coming’, he said and got up.

George looked from his twin to Hermione and the present in her hands and grinned without either of them noticing.

 

After everyone had had their second, third, and in some cases fourth round of Christmas dinner everyone got up to stretch their legs. Fleur, who seemed almost greyish, was escorted outside by a worried Bill just as Mrs Weasley passed them with an annoyed expression on her face. Hermione was taking another look at the book she had gotten when a voice interrupted her concentration.

‘Hermione? Can I talk to you for a second?’ Harry said looking unusually nervous.

‘Of course Harry. What’s the matter you look like someone just told you to eat troll bogies’. Harry made a nervous laugh but didn’t really seem to have heard what she had said to him. He looked around the room as if searching for someone. He grabbed her arm and lead her to the corner of the living room. Hermione looked at him nervously. Harry didn’t usually act like this and she began to worry that something was wrong. ‘Are you sure that you’re all right Harry? You really do look like somethings wrong’ she said. It was very rarely that Harry seemed this nervous and he had seemed fine earlier when they had all been talking in Ron’s room.

‘Uhm yeah, I’m all right I’m just a bit uhm well yeah’, he said running his finger through his tangled black hair. ‘I need to ask you something okay?’ Now Hermione was starting to feel nervous as well. What did he want to ask her? It couldn’t be about that night at the Leaky Cauldron could it? No of course it couldn’t, Harry hadn’t even been there and how would he have found out? Besides why would he be the one to be nervous talking about it? Unlike her he didn’t have anything to be ashamed about. She should be the one who was nervous. Bugger. She was nervous. She could even feel herself start to grow hotter. She took away a beam of sweat making its way down the side of her face.

‘So what do you think?’ Harry asked searching her face with a weird expression on his own.

‘Huh?’ Hermione said having apparently missed what Harry had wanted to say to her fretting about her own secrets.

‘I asked whether you thought it was a good idea or whether it is too soon?’ Hermione looked at him blankly. Harry put his face closer to her own and whispered, ‘For me to ask Ginny to marry me. I’ve thought about it for a while now and seeing her for the first time in a few months has just really made me consider it’. A rush of relief came over Hermione as she finally understood what Harry was on about.

‘Oh!’ She exclaimed. Harry shushed her. ‘Sorry’, she said in a much lower voice. ‘I think it’s a great idea Harry but it might be a bit too soon. Ginny is still in school so you might want to at least wait until she finishes her seventh year at Hogwarts’.

‘But that won’t be for another six months’, he groaned. Hermione lifted an eyebrow.

‘Is there a time issue involved?’ She asked. Harry looked at her blankly.

‘A time issue?’ He repeated not catching her drift.

‘Is Ginny pregnant?’ Hermione whispered. Her question made Harry turn as red as his girlfriends hair.

‘No!’ he sputtered. ‘She’s not pregnant. I just… it’s just… it’s just that I love her and I want to marry her, and I don’t want to wait. You never know what will happen’, he said looking increasingly serious.

‘I know Harry’, she said putting her hands on his shoulders and looking in his eyes. ‘But you don’t have to think like that anymore. Voldemort isn’t here anymore. You’re save and so is Ginny, so you don’t have to rush into anything’. Harry nodded but didn’t seem entirely convinced.

‘I know, but haven’t you ever done something you knew was a bit stupid but you did it anyway because you somehow knew that it would feel right?’ Images of glasses of Fire Whiskey, warm hands on her, and the feel of another body pressed against her own shot through her mind like a montage of hazy memories.

‘Of course Harry who hasn’t but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t think before we act. I’m sure that you and Ginny will marry someday and that you will be very happy together. But aren’t you happy about the way things are now? Do you really want everything to change by putting a label on it?’ Her voice had risen through her monologue and she heard how shrill she sounded. Get a grip Granger or he’ll figure out that you’re not really talking about him and Ginny, a voice in her head yelled. She took a deep breath and placed her hands on his shoulders once more. ‘What I’m saying is; wait. Not forever. Just for a little while at least until Ginny finishes school. All right?’

‘All right’, Harry said looking more confused than ever. His expression changed as he said, ‘You won’t say anything to Ginny or any of the other Weasley’s will you?’

‘Of course not’, Hermione said kissing him on the cheek; ‘Your secret is safe with me’.

 

‘What do you think Harry and Hermione are whispering about?’ Fred asked George in the other end of the room. He looked at them standing there in the corner both looking nervous.

‘Don’t know’, George said his mouth full of one of their mum’s cranberry tarts.

‘They both look really nervous like they’re about to tell each other something important’, he said craning his neck to see if he could get a look at Hermione’s face. George looked up from the plate of tarts he had conveniently placed upon his lap.

‘Well, you could always go over there and ask them’, he said.

‘Don’t be stupid’, Fred said snatching one of the tarts. But, when Hermione kissed Harry on the cheek, he really did wish he had gone over there.

 

Almost immediately after Harry had gone out to get some fresh air, Ron came over and grabbed her.

‘I need to tell you something’, He said in a strange voice. Hermione could feel her heart race as she looked closely at Ron’s face. He seemed to be almost as nervous as Harry had been when he asked her advice, but somehow there was something different about his expression. It was somehow more composed and he looked like a man on a mission.

‘All right’, she said hesitantly.

‘I feel bad about not telling you earlier because I’ve known this for a while and I’ve been meaning to tell you. I just couldn’t figure out when the timing would be right because I don’t want you to feel awkward about it, you know?’, Ron said. Hermione could feel herself begin to panic. Oh no he does know and he has known for a while. How does he expect this conversation to be anything but awkward? Everything about this is awkward. I should have just stayed to celebrate Christmas in Australia. Or maybe I should just have stayed in Australia period. ‘Hermione are you even listening? I’m trying to tell you something important but you’re just standing there like someone bewitched you or something’.

‘I’m listening’, she said trying very hard to steady her voice and compose her facial features.

‘All right’, Ron said and paused, ‘As you know it did at one point seem like the two of us would become an item’, he continued in a suddenly very formal and serious tone of voice that sounded much more like Percy than the Ron she knew. Oh my god he is not suggesting that we get back together after what happened is he? Ron looked at her with a question in his eyes and Hermione nodded even though he hadn’t really asked her anything. ‘Well know I see that it was a good thing because something has happened recently that I am very exited about’. Hermione was looking at him in utter disbelief. He was happy about it? Why would he be happy that she had slept with his brother when they like he had said almost became a couple earlier that same year? Ron took a deep breath, ‘I’ve met someone and she’s coming over later’, he said to quickly that the words jumbled together.

‘What?’ Hermione said.

‘I’ve met someone, a witch, and she’s coming over later to say hello to everyone’, Ron said looking at her with a worried expression. Hermione felt a flood of relief rush over her. She hugged him tight.

A startled Ron muttered against her hair, ‘So you’re not mad?’

‘Of course I’m not mad you idiot’, she said as she stepped back to look at him, ‘I’m glad that you’ve met someone nice’.

‘Well I haven’t _just_ met her strictly speaking. Its someone that I’ve known for years but when I ran into her about a month ago I just began to see her in a completely different light you know’, Ron said looking relieved that Hermione had taken the news so well. Just as Ron uttered the words, Hermione saw Fred coming out of the kitchen and she quickly looked at the ceiling.

‘Is it someone I know?’ Hermione asked trying to divert the conversation away from talking about seeing people you had known for years in a new and very appealing light.

‘Yeah it is’, Ron said before continuing in a teasing voice, ‘But I won’t tell you who it is. You’ll just have to wait until she comes over later’.

‘Idiot’, Hermione said swatting his arm thinking back on the fling that Ron had had with Lavender Brown during their sixth year at Hogwarts. At first, Ron had liked Lavender a lot, but when he had found out just how clingy and needy she was things had ended rather quickly. Oh dear I really hope he hasn’t gotten back with Lavender. Ron grinned down at her and Hermione felt the need to hug him again.

 

Fred came out of the kitchen and saw Hermione and Ron standing in the room embracing each other. A sudden flash of envy surged through his body and he stopped dead. Hermione who had clearly seen him come into the room suddenly looked up at the ceiling avoiding his eyes. Coward, he thought clutching his hand into a tight fist.

‘What’s the matter Fred?’ Ginny who had suddenly materialized beside him asked.

‘Nothing’, he muttered looking away from Ron and Hermione, who were now smiling at each other. Ginny looked from Fred to Ron and Hermione standing together before looking down at Fred’s clutched hand.

‘You sure? ‘cause you seem a little tense?’ She said. Fred followed her gaze down to his own handed and he relaxed it.

‘It’s nothing’, he said before making an excuse to get something out of his old room leaving Ginny standing alone wondering what was going on with her brother.

 

Ron left Hermione to go talk to Harry about the situation. Apparently, he hadn’t only ‘forgotten’ to tell her. No one knew that his new girlfriend was coming over. Thinking about how Mrs Weasley might react to the news of a possible daughter in law’s arrival at The Burrow in the near future, Hermione decided to go help her with all the dishes. As she walked into the kitchen, she heard Mrs Weasley mumbling to herself as she hastily whirled her wand around making the dishes fly around the room.

‘Still doesn’t like my food does she? Think’s she’s too good for the English cuisine does she? Perhaps if I had made her some lovely snails or frogs she wouldn’t have looked so sour’, she said as one of the plates flew into the wall and smashing without her even noticing. Hermione gulped. She did not want to be Fleur right now. If there was anything Mrs Weasley took almost as seriously as the welfare of her children it was her cooking and the pride she took in it, and she could only imagine the wrath that Fleur or maybe rather Bill would feel if Mrs Weasley decided to ask why Fleur had not eaten much at the dinner.

‘Can I help you with anything Mrs Weasley?’ Hermione asked acting like she hadn’t heard anything Mrs Weasley had just muttered. Mrs Weasley gave a jump and turned around.

‘Oh no dear I’m quite all right’, she answered in a voice that was both cheerful and slightly manic.

‘All right’, Hermione said eyeing the pieces of broken plate scattered around the kitchen floor, ‘Well thank you for a lovely dinner. Everything tasted delicious’.

‘Thank you dear. I’m glad that someone like my cooking. Apparently not everyone appreciates a nice English Christmas dinner’, she said. Hermione didn’t know what to say, but Mrs Weasley didn’t seem to expect an answer. She turned around to face the sink and started muttering indistinctly to herself seeming to have forgotten already that Hermione was even there.

 

Coming out of the kitchen, Hermione nearly bumped in to Bill. ‘I wouldn’t go in there if I were you’, Hermione said to him.

‘Why?’ Bill said just as something loud fell to the floor in the kitchen making them both jump, ‘What’s the matter with mum?’

‘She irritated because she thinks Fleur doesn’t like her cooking’, Hermione explained.

‘I knew this would be a problem’, he said ruing his finger through his long hair.

‘You knew that Fleur doesn’t like your mother’s cooking?’ Hermione asked feeling very confused.

‘No that’s not it exactly’, he said looking like he was searching for the right words to explain. ‘Well. It isn’t mums cooking that’s the problem, at the moment at least, It’s all food really. Fleur can’t eat anything without feeling sick you see’.

‘Has she been like that for a long time? Have you considered taking her to saint Mungus Hospital. You know, I once read a story in a book about a with once who stopped eating because of a spell that had backfired. She had apparently tried to enchant herself with a slimming charm. The with didn’t even know that the spell hadn’t worked the way it was supposed to because it had somehow slimmed her memory rather than her body and so she didn’t eat anything for five weeks before finally getting help. How she went on for so long without thinking that something was wrong I won’t ever know. Magic can really mess things up sometimes’, Hermione rambled on as Bill held up his hand signally for her to stop talking.

‘Fleur isn’t sick Hermione. She is quite all right, she’s just pregnant. We’re going to have a baby’, he said and a huge grin spread across his scarred face. Hermione squealed and Bill placed his hand over her mouth to stop her making so much notice.

‘No one knows yet so please don’t tell anyone about it, all right?. We’re waiting to tell them until Fleur starts to feel a little better and can handle the attention’. Hermione didn’t say anything but she had a sneaking suspicion that Fleur could always handle just a bit of extra attention. She also suspected that she just didn’t want the attention from Mrs Weasley who would surely begin to fuss over the woman carrying her first grandchild even more than she usually did her family members.

‘I promise’, Hermione mumbled and Bill removed his hand from her mouth.

‘Thanks’, he said and smiled at her, ‘Well I better go in there and make some excuse on Fleur’s behave’, he continued as he eyed the kitchen door.

‘Godspeed’, Hermione said as he opened the door and ducked another flying plate. Charlie and Fleur where going to have a baby. She smiled at the thought. Ron was going to be an uncle which meant that Harry and herself where going to be like a surrogate aunt and uncle to the baby because as they had often been told they were practically Weasley’s themselves.

 

Hermione walked into the living room where Ginny was pacing looking like she was trying to figure something out. ‘Are you all right there Ginny?’ Hermione asked. It seemed like everyone was either hiding something or trying to figure something out today.

‘Hermione do you think that Harry is acting strangely today?’ Ginny said seeming like she hadn’t heard what Hermione had asked her.

‘Not more than usual I guess’, Hermione said hoping to divert Ginny’s attention with a joke. I didn’t work. Ugh Harry is going to murder me if Ginny finds out that he’s thinking about proposing to her. On the other hand Ginny might kill me if she finds out that I’ve been keeping Harry’s secret rather than telling her.

‘He just seems really tense. Just now I asked if he wanted to go for a stroll outside, but then he just shouted that I was too young before running up the stairs. That seems really off doesn’t it?’ Before Hermione could say anything, Ginny continued, ‘Fred’s acting pretty weird as well I wonder if there was anything in the food that has made them act like this’.

‘Fred was acting weird?’ Hermione said in a very high pitched voice before she could stop herself. Damning herself she hoped that Ginny hadn’t caught the shift in her tone of voice. But who was she kidding Ginny was like a blood hound when it came to gossip.

‘Yeah’, Ginny said eyeing her with renewed interest making Hermione’s hope slowly dies, ‘He seemed really tense but said that he didn’t want to talk about it’. Hermione could see Ginny trying to piece the information together. ‘Why are you interested in how Fred acted?’ She asked.

‘No reason. I was just thinking that you might be right about there being something in the food that makes people act strangely you know’, she said very quickly. Ginny looked intensely at her and Hermione could feel how she was cracking under her scrutinizing gaze.

‘Oh my god, something has happened between you and Fred hasn’t it?’ Ginny asked when realization finally hit her.

‘Shhh!’ Hermione hissed in panic as she felt the heat rise in her face.

‘Oh my god you slept with Fred didn’t you?’ Ginny said again but didn’t wait for Hermione to answer before continuing her detective work, ‘It makes sense! That’s why he was so angry that you and Ron were all giggly and hugging each other. He was jealous of Ron because he likes you’, she said.

‘No he doesn’t’, Hermione said in a flat voice. If he liked her he would have tried to contact her after the night they had spent together wouldn’t he? Surely he would have asked her why she had left if he hadn’t also thought it was the right thing to do? Besides wouldn’t he have tried to talk to her today?

‘Yes he does, why else would he be mad at Ron for hugging you?’ Ginny said.

‘I don’t think he’s not mad at Ron. Maybe he thought I was telling Ron what had happened and that’s why he was angry. You know because he didn’t want anyone to know about it’, she said meekly. Ginny looked at Hermione in a way that told her that she was not at all convinced.

‘I don’t think Ron would be hugging you if he knew about it’, Ginny said, ‘And I seriously doubt Fred would jump to that conclusion. After all he’s not stupid. Besides you two must have agreed on either telling people or not telling people when you talked about it afterwards right?’

‘Yeah, uhm, we didn’t really talk about it afterwards’, Hermione said looking down at her hands.

‘How could you not have talked about it. Did you just get out of bed the next morning and start talking about Quidditch?’ She asked trying to force Hermione to look her in the eyes.

‘I didn’t really stay until the next morning’, Hermione said, ‘I just sort of sneaked out before he woke up’.

‘You left in the middle of the night like some scarlet woman?’ Ginny said using her mum’s expression for a fallen woman, which always made Ron blush.

‘I’m not a scarlet woman!’ Hermione said feeling herself getting angry.

‘Why not? You turned what could have been something serious into a one night stand’, Ginny shot back at her.

‘It was a one night stand! We were drunk! He would probably have made some excuse to get me out of there anyway. I just made it easier for the both of us by leaving before he had to do so’.

‘Well I guess you’ll never know, will you?’ Ginny said with a pointed stare.

‘I guess not’, Hermione said and turned around.

‘Hermione wait!’ Ginny said and came after her grabbing her hands. ‘I’m sorry all right? I didn’t meant to sound all judgemental, but I just don’t think that he would have treated you like that if you had given him the chance. I know my brother Hermione, and he’s a really good guy. He wouldn’t have kicked you out of there like you were just some stranger’. The words resembled those of her thoughts during the last month and she could feel the tears starting to build up in her eyes.

‘Well I guess I’ll never know, will I?’ She said echoing Ginny’s words as she walked away without looking back.

 

Hermione sat down on the sofa picking up one of the books she had gotten. She flipped the pages without really reading what they said. Everyone would usually leave her alone if she was sitting with a book, and right know she just really wanted to be left alone. A hundred different thoughts jumbled together in her mind as Ginny’s word played over and over again. He’s a really good guy. I just don’t think we would have treated you like that. Was Ginny right? Had she been the one to ruin what might have become something more by leaving in the middle of the night? Had she been the bad one because she had left? Had she mistreated Fred or had she done them both a favour? She turned the pages of the book and looked blankly at the pages. Had she made a mistake that night by sleeping with Fred or by leaving him as he lay sleeping? A sudden voice broke her chain of thought.

‘Oi Hermione, when you’ve got a minute I’m working on that thing I was talking about earlier and I could really use your help outside’. It was George speaking and Hermione just nodded to him before returning to her book.

Some time later, Mr Weasley sat down next to her. He was still fumbling around with the Walkman.

‘Great invention this one isn’t it?’ He said holding it up, ‘But how exactly does it work?’ He continued holding it upside down shaking it.

‘Here let me show you’, Hermione said knowing that she was getting herself into what might turn out to be a hour length session on the workings of electronic Muggle devices.

 

Finally escaping Mr Weasley and his never ending questions about the lives of muggles, Hermione ducked outside remembering George’s words about needing her help fixing something. She wondered what it was that he needed her help fixing. George was a very capable and highly imaginative wizard, and Hermione had a hard time figuring out what exactly he and Fred couldn’t figure out between the two of them. Outside the air was cold, and she tucked her jumper tightly around her, hugging herself. Her breath made white clouds in the sky as she searched the courtyard for a sign of the Weasley twin, and she did see a twin. It just wasn’t George. Fred, who had just come out of the front door, stopped dead when he saw her. Hermione too froze in place and looked at him standing there in his midnight blue jumper. The colour reminded her of something else. A sudden realization hit her.

‘It was from you wasn’t it? You bought me that book and then decided to not leave a card’ she said in voice that sounded much more accusing than she meant to as she tried to mask her confusion. For a moment, she didn’t think he was going to answer her but rather turn around and run away. But that’s more your style isn’t it, a small voice said her head. You were the one who ran away the last time weren’t you little miss perfect.

‘Yeah it was’, he finally said not really looking into his eyes, ‘I thought you might like it’. When she didn’t say anything he continued waving his hands in a dismissive way, ‘You know because you used to be into that whole S.P.E.W business and helping Hagrid with the Hippogriff and all that when you were at Hogwarts’.

‘You remember that?’ she asked taking a few steps closer to him.

‘Yeah of course. You did spend a lot of time talking about it’, Fred said.

‘I know. But I didn’t really think that anyone was paying attention to what I was saying’.

‘I heard you’, Fred said meeting her gaze for the first time. Hermione though back to the night in the Leaky Cauldron, she remembered talking a lot about all sorts of things so there wouldn’t be an awkward silence between them. She had assumed that Fred was only being polite when he answered her rambling questions, but when she really strained herself she remembered that it hadn’t seemed like he was only listening with half an ear.

‘But why did you get it for me?’ She asked feeling more confused than she ever had.

‘Like I said, I saw it and I thought you might like it’, he said, ‘I’m not sure what else to say’.

‘That’s why I left you know’, she said after a short silence. ‘Because I didn’t know what to say. For one of the first times in my life I didn’t have a clue what to say. I didn’t have any witty facts or analogies from history’. As she heard herself speaking it was like she was only just realizing these things for the first time herself. ‘I left because I wasn’t sure what to say and I was afraid you wouldn’t either or that you would say something that I didn’t want to hear’.

‘That a load of Hippogriff shit, Hermione!’ Fred exclaimed startling her. ‘You should have given me a chance. I’m not sure I would have known what to say either, but don’t you think it would have been just a bit easier to figure it out together? Didn’t the idea that we might actually talk about the fact that we sleep together _together_ occur to you as a logical solution to the problem?’

‘I was sca-’, she started but before Hermione could answer he continued.

‘I didn’t know what to say either. It’s not like I have a habit of sleeping with my younger brother’s best mates now is it? I wasn’t sure what I would have said. But maybe if you had stayed, you would have found out that it would have been something along the lines of; I wish that we had done this sooner or; I really admire you as a person and as a witch and if you don’t want this to go any further I will respect that decision; or I have been in love with you for a long time and I want us to be together for real because to me this means something, to me this isn’t just a one night stand’. He stopped and breathed hard before looking into her eyes. ‘I would probably have said something like that, but you didn’t stay to find out because you were scared that I would say the wrong thing. You didn’t stay because you didn’t trust me’.

‘That’s not true Fred. I didn’t stay because I didn’t really trust myself. I was a coward. I was scared that you had only slept with me because you were drunk or because you somehow felt sorry for me. But I wish that I had stayed because if you had said any of those things to me, I would probably have answered that I also wished that we had done it sooner and that I have also been in love with you for a long time’, she took a deep breath, ‘I would have told you that it wasn’t just a one night stand to me either. I would have told you that it meant something more to me’.

‘Really?’ Fred asked with more hope in his voice than Hermione had ever heard him express.

‘Really’, she said. Even though she had been scared to admit her feelings even to herself saying them out loud felt right. ‘I’m sorry I ran’, she said.

‘How about we say that you get a free pass’, he said, ‘But next time you feel like running somewhere why don’t you run towards me instead of away from me’. Fred grinned at her and she enclosed the distance between them in a sprint.

‘Like that?’ Hermione said.

‘Exactly like that’, Fred answered putting his arms around her looking into her eyes.

‘I think you should kiss me now’, Hermione said breathlessly.

‘Well I sort of have to’, he said suddenly laughing as he looking at something above her. Hermione looked up and just above her head there was a flowing mistletoe. She looked Fred in the eyes and laughed.

‘Did you do this?’ she said nudging her head in the direction of the flying sprig. Fred shook his head and looked over her head at the kitchen window.

‘Bugger off George!’ he said and Hermione turned around to see a grinning George Weasley sticking his head out of the window. Hermione suddenly remembered why she had come outside in the first place. Had George set them up?

‘You didn’t really need my help fixing anything did you?’ Hermione said feeling rather cheated. She had honestly believed that George wanted her opinion on something, which had really been quite flattering.

‘Yes I did! I needed you to fix my brother. He really hasn’t been working properly these past few weeks, and we can’t afford to buy any more new things for the store because he keeps accidently blowing things up’, he said. Hermione looked at Fred and to her surprise she saw that he blushed.

‘I didn’t blow that many things up’, he muttered under his breath.

‘He did blow that many things up Hermione, so do me a favour and don’t run out on him this time and just so you both know the walls in the flat aren’t really that thick’, he said and winked at her before disappearing out of sight.

‘Are you blushing?’ Fred asked looking at her mischief sparkling in her eyes.

‘No!’ She said feeling the heat in her face when she thought about George’s words. All this time she had thought he didn’t know when actually he had heard them that night.

‘I kind of looks like you’re blushing’, Fred said teasing her.

‘Well it’s sort of embarrassing that he heard us don’t you think?’ She asked.

‘Well I’m not really surprised he heard us, you were pretty loud’, he said and laughed. Hermione swatted him over the head. ‘Hey, I wasn’t saying that it was a bad thing. Who could have sex with the magnificent Fred Weasley and not scream that loud?’

‘Oh shut up’, she said as Fred grinned at her. She could she him opening his mouth to say something more, but before he could boost his ego even more, she planted her lips on his and silenced him for good. The kiss wasn’t as deep and hard as those they had shared last had been. It was soft and tender but much better because this time Hermione knew that it would not be the last.

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my first fanfics and I would really appreciate if you guys left a comment saying what you thought of it! I wrote this story during Camp NaNoWriMo - an awesome event I urge you all to check out!
> 
> Also, any guesses to whom Ron might be dating?


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